Rate My Professor Jason Cabral

Jason D. “Iota” Cabral is an Associate Professor of Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian Studies and Academics Division Chair at Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Born and raised in ʻŌʻōkala, a small sugar plantation town on the Hilo-Hāmākua border, his first language is Hawaiian Creole English, spoken among diverse ethnic groups in the plantation camps. He attended Laupāhoehoe High and Elementary School and briefly studied at UH Mānoa before transferring to UH Hilo, where he earned a B.A. in Hawaiian Studies and Natural Sciences in 1997, an M.A. in Hawaiian Language and Literature in 2004, and a Ph.D. in Hawaiian and Indigenous Language and Culture Revitalization in 2016. His M.A. thesis, completed in 2004, titled He Kālailaina o ke Kāhulu Pepeke Painu me ke Kāhulu Pepeke Kālele ʻĀkena a me ka Ili ʻana o ia mau Kāhulu Pepeke i loko o nā Moʻolelo ʻo Kalapana a me Kaluaikoʻolau, analyzed nominalized clauses and subject relative clauses in the stories of Kalapana and Kaluaikoolau. His 2016 Ph.D. dissertation, He Kālailaina i nā Kāhulu pepeke Pike Kiʻa a Waila hoʻi o ka ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi a me ka Ili ʻana o ia mau Kāhulu Pepeke i loko o ka Moolelo ʻo Kalapana, examined specific embedded clauses in Hawaiian and their usage in the story of Kalapana.

Cabral has taught Hawaiian language courses at Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani for over 23 years, serving in graduate courses and the Hawaiian Studies Department. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2014 following tenure and was honored for 20 years of service in 2021. Appointed Academics Division Chair in Spring 2020, succeeding Dr. Hiapo Perreira, he previously chaired the Hawaiian Studies Program. His research focuses on Hawaiian syntax and grammar, second language acquisition, and the relationship between Hawaiian language and bilingual code-switching. As a faculty member in the college dedicated to Hawaiian language revitalization, he contributes to undergraduate and graduate programs in Hawaiian Studies and Linguistics.